Towing Accessories

You can get a ball mount from NAPA auto parts, etrailer.com, U-Haul, or a variety of other locations. If you may be switching tow vehicles around, consider purchasing an adjustable one. Your ball mount may or may not come with a hitch ball, if it doesn’t—see below.

Now, not to say the pin that comes along with your ball mount doesn’t do the trick (it does), or that your hitch ball and mount are at risk of being stolen (they’re probably not), but if you’re like me and you’re paranoid about your pin snapping off and pinging away down four lanes of highway traffic as your camper sways like a wayward camel while you attempt to pull over without crashing it into the back of your tow vehicle, this hitch receiver lock can smother a nice velvety layer of reassurance atop your crackly nerves.

These are fairly easy to attach, and give you a nice extended view. They are not a do or die requirement, but really when you can’t see out your rearview mirror and you’re lugging around a camping extravaganza behind you, you’re gonna want all the help you can get.

Depending on your rig, you may or may not need a brake controller. For our first couple runs we didn’t have one. We had to brake on the freeway when someone tried to pull off the roadside curb into our lane without looking, and there was a bit of swaying that ensued, which I suspect could have been better managed if we were using our Little Wing’s brakes as well. To wit, thumbs-up to getting a brake controller.

Here’s are a few of the other accessories we found to be necessities to get us geared up.

Ballpark Price

Item

Image

Description

$50

Pet Car Seat Cover

For the dirt-powdered paws of your beloved pets, these things are just fantastic for helping to keep your car clean when on the road. And by affixing the extended hammock to the front seats, they also keep your floppy pup from slamming into the back of your seat and clattering down into the car canyon of foot space when you stop short. The one we bought even comes with a medium and large-sized doggy seatbelt and is available in two sizes. We opted for the regular size and it was a perfect fit for our 4runner.